733 Third Ave.
New York, N.Y. 10017
Phone: 212/687-8288
Fax: 212/687-8456
Stress alert! The company you represent is going broke, its top executives have resigned, the market's looking weak, and journalists are hounding you about the bad news. How do
you redeem yourself and get your company's story heard? Take heart that sometimes pitching is easier when the red light's flashing. Chief Executive Magazine editors crave news and
exclusives about fallen executives and what went wrong. What if the company or executive you represent is a booming success? Editors also covet good news, as do the magazine's
success-hungry readers. Chief Executive Magazine's publisher, the Chief Executive Group, reports 93 percent of Fortune 500 companies subscribe to the mag, 99 percent of
subscribers are directly involved in purchasing decisions and 92 percent hold at least one of the top five job titles, such as CEO or CFO. Circ.: 42,000.
Content/Contacts
Chief Executive Magazine focuses on keeping high-level execs abreast of new, effective ways of doing business; how to make good decisions; and most importantly, how to protect
themselves in a dog-eat-dog corporate world.
Regular magazine departments include:
- Cover Story - which, in the most recent issue of the magazine, is called "The Fall Of A CEO," detailing the corporate ex-communication of top executives and how to
avoid such a fate;
- Transitions - which reports executive moves, promotions, demotions and resignations;
- Techscape - which talks about digital services, new technology, the Internet and emerging markets;
- CEO-2-CEO - which profiles CEOs.
Technology coverage in the magazine is increasing, says Editorial Director John Brandt, along with the old standby - executive profiles.
"We're looking for very good CEO profiles, but we don't want, 'Oh, we have a great CEO,'" Brandt says.
Instead, editors are interested in CEOs who have done something unique in leading a company, or topical stories that would be of interest to CEOs -- such as board governance.
"We're particularly interested right now on how CEOs are involved in making technological decisions for their companies," Brandt says.
While Chief Executive Magazine is intended to be a guide to best business practices for executives, it also includes information about leisure, such as - big surprise - which
are among the great golf courses.
Pitch Tips
While the editorial staff is relatively large (about 20 or so editors/reporters), it's best to email pitches to executive editors Jennifer Pellet ([email protected]) or C.J. Prince ([email protected]). They will
assign stories to appropriate beat writers. (Editorial beats are in the process of being revised.)
A list of other editors, as well as their contact information, is available at the Web site, http://chiefexecutive.net/about/people.htm.
Don't forget to include the human-interest angle when pitching a story. While it's not the most important factor in determining whether your executive's tale will be published,
it's a good way to round him or her out as a candidate.
"When somebody [simply] says, 'We have a very interesting CEO. Do you want to do a story about them?' My answer is no," Brandt says. "Tell me what your CEO has done that is
unique. Is it somebody who kayaks? Works in a monastery for his vacation? Give me a reason to care about your CEO, and more importantly, give me a reason 42,000 CEOs should care
about him."
Comments
If the CEO you're representing doesn't have a tale of hardship to tell the world, or an exciting extracurricular life of white-water rafting to brag about, then you should play
up the intellectual angle.
The magazine includes "Roundtable Discussions" on topics such as "Why E-brands Fail," says Brandt.
But if the editors don't call back right after you've made your brilliant pitch, don't fret. They have a lot of material gracing their desks and need a few days -- or even a
week -- to merely sort the useful information from the junk.
So before pitching to Chief Executive Magazine, take the opportunity to get to know the top executives you represent, in addition to their companies. Think about what angle
works best and what you would like to know about leading a company as a CEO.
"Remember, if you want to pitch us a story, we're interested in lots of things, but we're really interested in the CEO aspect," Brandt says. "What does it mean to somebody
who's in charge of a large organization?"